1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus having a solid-state image sensing element with sensitivity to X-rays, a control method thereof, a program, and an image capturing system comprising the image capturing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, various inspection apparatus such as a simple X-ray imaging apparatus, CT (Computed Tomography), and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) are present in the medical field, and “diagnostic imaging” is brisk in which diagnosis is done using images obtained from these inspection apparatus. In angiography, an X-ray moving image is displayed on a monitor in real time, thereby checking a contrast medium flowing in blood vessels.
Conventionally, such image capturing is performed by using an II (Image Intensifier). However, X-ray sensors (e.g., flat panel detectors) using solid-state image sensing elements are coming along in recent years and are used not only for still image capturing but also for moving image capturing.
The images captured by such an X-ray imaging apparatus are transferred to a control PC, and the diagnostic imaging is realized by the control PC.
In an arrangement disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-199290, rapid image data transfer is implemented by connecting an X-ray imaging unit to a control PC by an optical fiber cable.
In image capturing using a sensor such as a flat panel detector, as described above, still image capturing such as general chest part image capturing as before is executed. This image capturing is also used for moving image capturing such as IVR (interventional radiology). That is, still images (captured images) and moving images (fluoroscopic images) can be obtained by using a single sensor. Image data acquired by the sensor are output by using a single communication interface regardless of whether they are still images (captured images) or moving images (fluoroscopic images).
A communication interface used in a system under such an image capturing environment is normally a wire interface. For this reason, it is sometimes difficult to separately acquire still image data and moving image data or manage the wire network. However, the existing arrangement is incapable of building a flexible system that can use a wireless interface in place of a wire interface. In addition, if communication using only one communication channel is disconnected during data transfer, the data transfer cannot be resumed until the communication channel recovers.
The above-described arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-199290 examines how rapidly one can transfer ever-increasing image data to the control PC (Personal Computer). Hence, there is no mention of usage of multiple communication interfaces and flexible switching of communication interfaces in accordance with the image capturing method or image type.
As described above, image data obtained by the conventional image capturing apparatus is output from a single communication interface independently of the image capturing method and image type. Hence, the system cannot flexibly be built in accordance with the user's purpose.